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Improving perception and acceptability of aquaculture through hands-on experimental activities for schools

Marta V. Correia1, 2*, Helena Peres1, 3, Marisa Almeida1, 2 and Laura Guimarães1
  • 1 Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
  • 2 Center for Environmental Monitoring and Interpretation of Vila do Conde, Portugal
  • 3 Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal

World fish production peaked at around 171 million tonnes in 2016, with aquaculture accounting for 47% of the total, or 53% if we exclude non-food uses (including processing for fishmeal and fish oil) (FAO, 2018). Aquaculture offers enormous potential to meet the demand for food associated with the global population growth and is an alternative to the exploitation of natural resources. Natural resources have stagnated in recent years due to intensive fishing, which has led to a reduction of the fishing resources populations, and due to the fisheries restrictions implemented as a measure for the conservation of fish stocks. Furthermore, fish consumption should be stimulated as it helps to prevent the onset of cardiovascular diseases and contributes to the reduction of risk factors for diseases associated with obesity, being also an important component of the Mediterranean diet. This growing importance of aquaculture comes at a time when the world becomes more aware of environmental issues and consumers have become more attentive, increasingly demanding safer products (Bacher, 2015). Thus, despite all the efforts made in the last decades to improve sustainable aquaculture practices and the technological innovations implemented in this area, the resources produced in aquaculture are still socially less accepted and associated to a very negative public perception. So, new approaches are needed to increase aquaculture social acceptability, being this one of the aims of the current project. To improve public perception of aquaculture it is also important to increase the scientific knowledge of the society about the ocean, i.e. Ocean Literacy. On this subject, young people are a key target for their importance in future socioeconomic development. The Ocean is an important source of countless resources and services of inestimable value. Its protection is therefore essential and a global priority. Although crucial for its protection, integrated understanding of the influence of the Ocean on mankind and the influence of mankind on the Ocean is still rarely addressed in school curricula or in complementary activities offered to young people. It is, therefore, necessary to promote a comprehensive discussion about integrated knowledge of the Ocean, particularly to the new generations. Through the development of experimental activities to be carried out by students in their schools or during visits to CIIMAR we intend to increase Ocean Literacy and address a wide variety of topics related to the Ocean, including those related to aquaculture and aquaculture products. One of the activities provided is on the topic Integrated Multi Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA). This activity allows students to build a laboratorial IMTA system and to recognize it as a nature-based solution for the sustainable exploitation of marine resources, by minimizing the impact on the environment and fostering economic valuation through the diversification of products. With this hands-on experiment, students work essential aspects of biodiversity, concepts of trophic webs and eutrophication associated with the discharge of effluents enriched in inorganic nutrients, as well as principles of circular economy improving their perception and acceptability of aquaculture. A questionnaire was developed to assess if the involvement on the IMTA hands-on experimental activity had the capability of increasing Ocean Literacy and knowledge about aquaculture-related topics and concepts in our participant students and understand if the importance they attribute to the Ocean has changed in any way after the activities. A total of 60 students came to perform the activities at CIIMAR for one week during scientific holiday weeks organised for them in the Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays of 2016 and 2017. Students were from the 3rd cycle of basic education and high school of different schools located in northern Portugal. In each week students did five different activities related to topics of Marine Sciences, including the IMTA experimental activity. The questionnaire was based on items with a Likert scale response and multiple-choice questions and was distributed at the beginning and at the end of the week of activities. The results of these questionnaires showed that the knowledge regarding several of the topics related to aquaculture and fisheries had increased after the week of activities. For example, the percentage of respondents that, after the week of activities had assumed that they knew what “Fishing Stocks” were increased from 18 % to 68%, with the option “I’ve never heard of it” decreasing from 47 % to 10%. Results also showed that the importance the participants attribute to the Ocean also increased. For instance, to the question “How important is the Ocean to you?” the percentage of answers “Extremely Important” increased from 35 % to 43 %. In conclusion, these hands-on activities can be a valuable tool to increase Ocean Literacy, teach environmental sustainability and other ecological concepts and allow students to understand the concepts and the technology behind aquaculture. These activities can, therefore, increase the knowledge, perceptions, and acceptability of aquaculture and its products.

References

Bacher, 2015. Perceptions and misconceptions of aquaculture: a global overview. GLOBEFISH Research Programme, Vol. 120. FAO, Rome. FAO. 2018. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 - Meeting the sustainable development goals. FAO Fisheries Department, Rome.

Keywords: Public perception of aquaculture, Ocean literacy, Hands-on activities, Questionnaires, Integrated multi trophic aquaculture

Conference: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019.

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Topic: Ecotourism, Environmental Education, Citizen Science and Dissemination of Science

Citation: Correia MV, Peres H, Almeida M and Guimarães L (2019). Improving perception and acceptability of aquaculture through hands-on experimental activities for schools. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) . doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00051

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Received: 13 May 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019.

* Correspondence: Dr. Marta V Correia, Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Matosinhos, Portugal, mcorreia@ciimar.up.pt